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MINNEAPOLIS—When Sergio Santos was first acquired by the Blue Jays before the 2012 season he was heralded as the answer to the club’s closer problems.

The former position player, with just two years of big-league experience on the mound, would anchor the Jays’ bullpen for years to come and provide the kind of shutdown relief the team hadn’t enjoyed since the best days of B.J. Ryan.

Today, nearly 18 months and two seasons after making his debut with Toronto, Santos has appeared in all of 25 games, his short tenure derailed by a series of elbow and shoulder injuries.

But since returning from his latest DL stint on Aug. 1, Santos has doubled the number of innings he has pitched in a Jays uniform and he’s in the midst of his longest stretch of good health in two years.

Not only that, but he has pitched up to the hype that marked his arrival in late 2011.

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He has a 2.13 ERA over his last 14 appearances and has stranded 12 of the 13 baserunners he has inherited. With Steve Delabar on the disabled list for most of August, Santos became manager John Gibbons’ go-to setup man.

For Santos, who felt the burden of not being able to produce for a new team and new fans, his recent success — while only a month old — is still sweet relief.

“You can’t even put into words,” he said. “From being hurt for two years to having a month and change and to pitch and bounce back and feel good, it’s a refreshing feeling.”

In his second season with the Chicago White Sox in 2011, Santos was among the most fearsome closers in the game, earning 30 saves with his upper-90s fastball and devastating slider. It was just his third season — ever — pitching and it all seemed to come so easily.

It goes without saying that the last two seasons have been trying for Santos, a lesson in how fast things can change in baseball. “You can be the hero for a while and you can hit the bottom.”

When Santos sat out almost all of the 2012 season with persistent shoulder inflammation — later undergoing season-ending surgery to clean out scar tissue — whispers arose among Jays fans that this was another “Sirotka” incident.

Mike Sirotka was a pitcher the Jays acquired from the White Sox in 2001 as part of a six-player deal that sent David Wells to the Sox. Sirotka turned out to have a partially torn rotator cuff and torn labrum, injuries which then-Jays GM Gord Ash said White Sox GM Kenny Williams did not disclose. Ash asked commissioner Bud Selig to overturn the trade. Selig denied.

Like Sirotka, Santos was acquired via trade with the White Sox, for whom Williams was still GM.

But GM Alex Anthopoulos and the Jays say that’s where the similarities ended. Santos was healthy when he arrived, they assured.

Besides, the player the Jays traded for Santos — pitching prospect Nestor Molina — is still in Double-A and has been converted from a starter to a reliever. So chances are Williams isn’t too happy about the trade either.

But Santos, who remains under contract through next season, is hoping he has put his injury troubles behind him. He wants to finish the rest of this year strong and carry the momentum into next season. Whether he can become the closer everybody hoped for two seasons ago remains to be seen.

Gibbons, who was bench coach with the Kansas City Royals when Santos was slamming the door for the White Sox in 2011, says the pitcher is looking now like he did back then.

“Since he came back this year he’s been pretty damn good,” Gibbons said. “He’s got an overpowering arm and a real good breaking ball with strikeout ability.”

Considering he has only been pitching for five years, Gibbons says Santos still has a fresh arm, despite his recent health woes.

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